Ribbon advancing mechanism

In order to advance an inked ribbon in a printing apparatus in which a printing carriage mechanism moves across the width of a platen, one-way brakes are placed on ribbon guide rollers on the printing carriage mechanism to permit relative movement between the printing carriage mechanism and the inked ribbon as the printing carriage mechanism is advancing from left-to-right across the paper. One-way brakes are placed on return rollers in the ribbon path in order to prevent the inked ribbon from moving with respect to the platen as the printing carriage mechanism is moving from left-to-right across the paper. When the printing carriage mechanism moves from right-to-left in order to return to the left-hand margin, the one-way brakes on the ribbon guide rollers on the printing carriage mechanism apply substantial friction to the inked ribbon and drag the inked ribbon with the printing carriage mechanism as the printing carriage mechanism returns from right-to-left. In this same motion the return rollers rotate freely to alow the inked ribbon to move in accordance with the printing carriage mechanism motion.